[AA.TR] At least six people were hurt in an kaboom near a mosque in western Afghanistan on Sunday evening, security sources have said.

A device went off near the Imam Baqir Shia mosque in the Bagh-E-Zubaida area, west of Herat...a venerable old Persian-speaking city in western Afghanistan, populated mostly by Tadjiks, which is why it's not as blood-soaked as areas controlled by Pashtuns... city, a local police officer told news hounds.

"Six maimed people were shifted to our hospitals so far; one of them is at death's door," Mohammad Rafiq Shirzai, a front man for Herat hospital, told Anadolu Agency.

No group has yet grabbed credit for the attack.

Earlier on Sunday, the Afghan Interior Ministry claimed 49 bully boyz were killed and 16 others maimed in an operation in the eastern provinces of Helmand...an Afghan province populated mostly by Pashtuns, adjacent to Injun country in Pak Balochistan..., Nangrahar and Paktika...which coincidentally borders South Wazoo..., near the Pakistain border.

Ministry sources said five Afghan army soldiers, including a senior commander, were maimed during the operation.

[Khaama (Afghanistan)] The Talibs suffered heavy casualties in the ground and Arclight airstrikes conducted by the Afghan National Defense and Security Forces (ANDSF) in southern Uruzgan province.

According to the local security officials, the forces of Evil suffered the casualties in the past 24 hours in the vicinity of the strategic Tarinkot city, the picturesque provincial capital of Uruzgan.

The officials further added that their information indicate at least 24 forces of Evil were killed during the operations.

The 205th Atal Corps of the Afghan National Army confirmed the report and said several weapons, ammunition, and explosives of the forces of Evil were also destroyed during the operations.

[Libya Observer] The front man of the Third Force that is appointed to secure the south, Mohammed Gliwan, confirmed that their fighters attacked Barak al-Shatti airbase on Sunday dawn and laid a tightened siege around it, aiming at regaining control and securing it.

In a press statement, Gliwan said their forces targeted the airbase with Grad rockets...Soviet-developed 122-mm rockets, usually launched from trucks. Newer versions are reported to have a range of up to 30 km...., without saying if they hit a specified target, confirming that there foreign mercenaries and pro-Dignity Operation militia inside the airbase.

"The Third Force called on the notables of Barak al-Shatti to interfere and hold back the militias inside the airbase from repeating their attacks on its forces so that they can preserve the social fabric of the district and prevent war from happening, otherwise, the Third Force fighters will eliminate any threat in the area." Gliwan added.

He indicated that they would have to wage a war on those militias if the social efforts to contain the conflict, abstain from supporting Sirte IS escapees and refrain from attacking the Third Force failed.

The commander of the Third Force, Jamal al-Treiki, said Saturday that the force’s fighters foiled an attack on Tamnahent airbase by Dignity Operation forces led by Mohammed Ben Nayel and added that the fighters are ready to thwart any attack that is jeopardizing the security of the Libyan south.

[YAHOO] At least 800 sub-Saharan African migrants colonists tried to cross into Spain's North African enclave of Ceuta from Morocco on Sunday by storming a border fence, though most were eventually turned back, the Spanish and Moroccan governments said.

Dozens of migrants colonists made it to the top of the six-metre barbed wire fence early on Sunday before being lifted down by cranes, footage from local TV station Faro TV showed.

Spain said about 1,100 migrants colonists attempted the crossing. Only two were allowed into Ceuta to be taken to hospital while the rest were returned to Morocco, the Spanish government said in a statement.

Five Spanish police and 50 from Morocco were maimed, the government added, after migrants colonists used rocks and metal bars to try and break through gates to access the fence and clashed with authorities.

Morocco's interior ministry reported that some 800 migrants colonists had tried to storm the enclave, and that all had been placed in durance vileDon't shoot, coppers! I'm comin' out!. It said 10 members of its security forces were seriously maimed.

"From now on those making such attempts will be presented before the competent judicial authorities who will decree their expulsion from the kingdom (of Morocco) or heavier penalties, according the gravity of the act," the ministry said in a statement.

Spain's two enclaves in Morocco, Ceuta and Melilla, are often used as entry points into Europe for African migrants colonists, who either climb over their border fences or try to swim along the coast.

[DailyMail, of course] A Moroccan woman has been juggedYouse'll never take me alive coppers!... [BANG!]... Ow!... I quit! for trying to smuggle a 19-year-old migrant from Gabon across the border with Spain curled up inside a suitcase.

The Spanish Civil Guard arrested the woman in Ceuta, a Spanish enclave next to Morocco, on December 30.

It comes as around 1,100 sub-Saharan African migrants colonists today tried to cross into Spain from Morocco via Ceuta by storming a border fence.

Spain has drawn criticism from human rights ...which are usually open to widely divergent definitions... groups for allowing some migrants colonists to be immediately turned back to Morocco in such incidents. They argue that skipping the lengthier deportation procedures deprives people of the opportunity to claim asylum.

[AA.TR] A Nigerian local government official was detained in the country's restive northeastern region for allegedly shielding a Boko Haram... not to be confused with Procol Harum, Harum Scarum, possibly to be confused with Helter Skelter. The Nigerian version of al-Qaeda and the Taliban rolled together and flavored with a smigeon of distinctly Subsaharan ignorance and brutality... suspect at his home.

According to a ministerial statement on Sunday from the provincial Borno government, Shettima Lawan Mafa, a council chairman, was held by the military on suspicion he hid a top terror suspect.

"(Hon. Mafa) reported himself to the military last week and was detained pending the outcome of ongoing investigations being conducted by the military," Borno commissioner for local government affairs Usman Ali Zannah said -- the first official comment on the issue.

The army had yet to comment at the time of this report.

A number of top government officials have previously been indicted for alleged involvement in the insurgency. The country's senate majority leader Ali Ndume and former Borno governor Ali Modu-Sheriff face similar charges, although they have not yet been prosecuted.

[YAHOO] One person was maimed when a jacket wallah aged around 10 blew herself up in a New Year's Eve attack in the northeastern Nigerian city of Maiduguri, witnesses and aid workers told AFP Sunday.

The girl approached a crowd buying noodles from a food vendor in the Customs area of the city around 9:30 pm on Saturday and detonated her explosives, they said.

Although no one has grabbed credit the attack bore the hallmark of Boko Haram... not to be confused with Procol Harum, Harum Scarum, possibly to be confused with Helter Skelter. The Nigerian version of al-Qaeda and the Taliban rolled together and flavored with a smigeon of distinctly Subsaharan ignorance and brutality... Islamists who are notorious for using suicide bombers, mostly women and maidens, in attacking civilian targets.

"The girl walked towards the crowd but she blew up before she could reach her target," said witness Grema Usman who lives in the area.

"She died instantly, while one person was seriously hurt after after he was hit by shrapnel."

"(Judging) from her corpse the girl was around 10 years old," Usman said.

An aid worker involved in the evacuation of the body gave a similar estimate of the bomber's age.

"The girl was clearly not more than 10 and this could have made her too nervous, making her to detonate the explosives prematurely," the aid worker suggested.

Borno state police front man Victor Isuku, meanwhile, said a secondexploding trollop female suicide bomber was caught and lynched by an angry mob. Her bomb was safely detonated by security forces, he said.

In December two girls aged between seven and eight detonated explosives in suicide kabooms on market in the city, injuring 19 people.

[MIDDLEEASTMONITOR] A Saudi soldier was killed Saturday by Houthi ...a Zaidi Shia insurgent group operating in Yemen. They have also been referred to as the Believing Youth. Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi is said to be the spiritual leader of the group and most of the military leaders are his relatives. The Yemeni government has accused the Houthis of having ties to the Iranian government, which wouldn't suprise most of us. The group has managed to gain control over all of Saada Governorate and parts of Amran, Al Jawf and Hajjah Governorates. Its slogan is God is Great, Death to America™, Death to Israel, a curse on the Jews ...fire along border with war-torn Yemen, the kingdom’s interior ministry said.

Ministry front man Mansur al-Turki said a Saudi border post came under heavy fire from Houthi snuffies holed up in a mountainous area, according to the official SPA news agency.

He said a soldier had been killed in an exchange of fire with the attackers. The soldier was the third to have been killed by Houthi fire since last week.

The Houthis, for their part, said their snipers had rubbed out a Saudi soldier in southern Soddy Arabia...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face..., according to the pro-Houthi al-Masira television.

Yemen ...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of. Except for a tiny handfull of Jews everthing there is very Islamic...has been wrecked by chaos since late 2014, when the Houthis and their allies overran capital Sanaa and other parts of the country.

[YAHOO] Armed men on Sunday attacked a prison in Bahrain where Shiites convicted over anti-government protests are held, killing one policeman and allowing 10 inmates to escape, the interior ministry said.

The security forces launched a manhunt for the attackers and the escapees, the ministry said on Twitter.

The attack took place at Jaw prison south of the capital Manama.

The ministry said four or five members of a "terrorist group" armed with automatic rifles and pistols attacked at 05:30 local time (0230 GMT).

It said one policeman was killed and another maimed in the attack, which allowed 10 prisoners to flee.

Seven had been serving life sentences and three were serving lengthy jail terms for "terrorist acts", the ministry added.

The tiny but strategic Gulf state has been rocked by unrest since its Sunni authorities crushed Shiite-led protests in 2011 demanding a constitutional monarchy and an elected prime minister.

[Khaama (Afghanistan)] An Afghan migrant attacked a Bible-reading woman in a refugee camp in Austria, it has been reported.

The 50-year-old woman was reportedly attacked by a 22-year-old Afghan migrant whose identity has not been disclosed by the authorities yet.

According to the local media reports, citing the police authorities, the man has confessed he attacked the woman and described ’personal issues’ as the motive behind the attack.

The woman was invited to read Bible by some residents of the Asylum center which apparently angered the migrant.

The authorities have said the woman sustained minor injuries and was apparently saved by her thick clothes after attacked with the kitchen knife.

The latest incident involving knife attack comes as the Afghan refugees are already facing numerous problems in the European countries besides thousands of them are stranded in eastern European countries.

Earlier, a court in Sweden awarded jail terms for a group of five Afghan teens after they were convicted with gang rape of a fellow refugee.

The prosecutors had earlier urged the court to deport the convicts but the request was overturned considering the deteriorating security situation of Afghanistan.

ISTANBUL (AP) -- The Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for the Istanbul shooting that killed 39 people and wounded scores of others. The IS-linked Aamaq News Agency said the New Year’s Eve attack was carried by a "heroic soldier of the caliphate who attacked the most famous nightclub where Christians were celebrating their pagan feast."

It said the man opened fire from an automatic rifle in "revenge for God’s religion and in response to the orders" of IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi (pictured).

Nineveh (IraqiNews.com) Iraqi army and police forces have recaptured a strategic street and liberated three more districts in the eastern section of the city of Mosul since late Saturday and through Sunday as operations resume to clear the city from Islamic State militants, an army officer said late Saturday.

Federal police forces said Sunday they became in control over the strategic No.60 Street southeast of Mosul.

“Army forces have managed to liberate the districts of al-Malayeen, al-Kindi and al-Arabi al-Thania after storming them on Friday,” Bas News quoted army major Ali Mohsen as saying. He added that the offensive on the three villages resulted in the killing of 40 IS militants, mostly foreigners.

Iraqi government forces declared on Thursday they were starting a second phase of operations to retake Iraq’s second largest city from militants after a few weeks of recess for resupply and reinforcement. Liberating Mosul, IS last outstanding stronghold in Iraq, could deal a final fatal blow to group’s influence in the country.

Forces have now become in control over more than 40 out of a total of nearly 60 districts of the city’s eastern section, and are hoping to push forward towards the west, where IS still maintain several locations near the borders with Syria.

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said yesterday the battle for Mosul was entering a “decisive” stage, and predicted in December that the operations could realize final victory within two months.

Nineveh (IraqiNews.com) Left over after ferocious battles with security forces, Islamic State fighters’ dead bodies are dumped with garbage cleared from areas recaptured by government troops, a local official at Nineveh was quoted as saying.

Abdel-Sattar al-Habbou, a member of the Nineveh Province’s board, told AlMaalomah news website that “the majority of the dead bodies of Daesh (IS) fighters go with trash when concerned authorities carry out purging and cleaning works after liberation (of IS-held areas).”

He said deaths among the extremist group have jumped to more than 160 a day over the past few days as security forces besiege occupied areas and maintain a blockade over supplies to the group from western Mosul.

While rights and aid groups have regularly decried human rights abuses by Islamic State militants against Iraqi civilians since the group emerged in 2014, Iraqi government forces and allied militias have also, in some occasions, got a share of criticism.

“ Militiamen, Iraqi Security Forces, and civilians mutilated and dragged the bodies of at least five dead fighters of the Islamic State (also known as ISIS) in the Iraqi town of Qayyarah on October 3, 2016,” Human Rights Watch said in a report mid November.

“The Iraqi government should control its own forces and hold them accountable if it hopes to claim the moral upper hand in its fight against ISIS,” said Lama Fakih, deputy Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. “The failure to hold commanders and abusers to account does not bode well for the looming battle inside Mosul. Mutilation of corpses is a war crime, as is killing captured combatants or civilians.”

Nineveh (IraqiNews.com) Iraqi forces recaptured more districts from Islamic State militants on Sunday as a second phase of operations that launched last October grind on to clear eastern Mosul from militants.

Lt. Col. Eyad al-Awsyi told Anadolu Agency that the army’s 9th division and Federal Police teams regained full control over al-Intissar district, also becoming closer to retaking al-Karama, another neighborhood. He said 19 IS militants were killed and a trapped car was exploded during the operations.

The Defense Ministry’s War Media Cell also reported that the forces recaptured the districts of Yunus al-Sabaawi and Yafa in southeast of the city.

Operations on Sunday and Saturday were carried out under an aerial cover from Iraqi and US-led coalition fighter jets.

Iraqi government forces declared on Thursday they were starting a second phase of operations to retake Iraq’s second largest city from militants after a few weeks of recess for resupply and reinforcement. Liberating Mosul, IS last outstanding stronghold in Iraq, could deal a final fatal blow to group’s influence in the country.

Forces have now become in control over more than 40 out of a total of nearly 60 districts of the city’s eastern section, and are hoping to push forward towards the west, where IS still maintain several locations near the borders with Syria.

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said Saturday the battle for Mosul was entering a “decisive” stage, and predicted in December that the operations could realize final victory within two months.

Nineveh (IraqiNews.com) We Are Coming Nineveh Operations Command announced on Sunday liberating the neighborhood of southern al-Karama completely, in the city of Mosul.

Commander of operations, Major General Abdel Amir Yarallah, in a press statement, said, “Troops of the Counter-Terrorism Service managed, today, to liberate southern al-Karama neighborhood completely, as well as raising the Iraqi flag over its buildings.”

Federal Police Chief, Lieutenant General Raed Shaker Jawdat, said in a press statement, “Troops of the Federal Police liberated the road of Gogjali-Intsar and raised Iraqi flag on it,” adding that, “Security forces also killed the terrorist known as Ahmed Manati.”

Joint security forces, backed by Army Aviation and international coalition, continue the battle to retake the city of Mosul from the Islamic state, after General Commander of Armed Forces Haider al-Abadi launched the operations in October 17.

Nineveh (IraqiNews.com) A local source in Nineveh Province revealed, that two civilians were killed and ten others were wounded in a suicide attack against displaced people coming from al-Karama neighborhood, east of Mosul, Alsumaria News reported on Sunday.

The source said, “A suicide bomber, wearing an explosive vest, detonated himself this evening on displaced families coming from al-Karama neighborhood, east of Mosul, killing two civilians and wounding ten others, mostly women and children.”

“Security forces evacuated the wounded to nearby hospitals,” the source added on condition of anonymity.

Joint security forces, backed by Army Aviation and international coalition, continue the battle to retake the city of Mosul from the Islamic state, after General Commander of Armed Forces Haider al-Abadi launched the operations in October 17.

[ARA News] Duhok – Iraqi Army forces on Sunday bombed ISIS strongholds in northern Mosul in a bid to cut off the Tel Kef supply line, military sources reported.

The Iraqi troops hit three ISIS checkpoints along the Tel Kef road in northern Mosul city, using heavy artillery. The shelling led to the destruction of the ISIS security checkpoints and the death of several ISIS militants.

The Tel Kef road is considered one of the main supply lines for the Islamic State’s (ISIS) militants to support their operations against the Iraqi forces in northern Mosul.

In the meantime, the US-led coalition’s air forces launched a fresh wave of airstrikes on Mosul, targeting ISIS tactical units and fighting positions.

“At least 70 ISIS terrorists have been killed under renewed coalition air raids since Friday,” Iraqi Army General Najm al-Jabouri said.

Al-Jabouri also reported that their forces captured the Intisar District, while fierce clashes continued in the vicinity of Palastine District in southeastern Mosul.

This comes as US-backed Iraqi forces started the second phase of the battle for Mosul against Islamic State’s militants.

On October 17th, 2016, the Iraqi Army and Kurdish Peshmerga forces launched a major battle for Mosul to liberate the city and its surroundings from ISIS.

[ARA News] Erbil – The US-led coalition said in a statement on Sunday that ISIS is increasingly using civilian buildings as weapon storage facilities “which is forbidden according to international law”. Islamic State’s (ISIS) militants have been implementing such tactics due to increased pressure by Iraqi security forces that recently launched the second phase of the Mosul operation.

On Sunday, the Iraqi Joint Operations Command announced the liberation of the al-Karama district in eastern Mosul. At request of the Iraqi Army, the US-led coalition artillery struck an ISIS mortar tube in support of the operation.

“A precision guided artillery round hit the mortar tube in between two empty school buildings. No civilians were in the area and minimal damage was reported to the buildings,” the coalition said.

“ISIS is known to use facilities such as mosques, hospitals, and schools, which are protected under the rules of international law as weapons storage facilities, fighting positions, and bases for its terrorist operations. We have seen this tactic used in ever greater numbers as the Iraqi Security Forces successfully push further into Mosul,” it added.

“While the Coalition takes extraordinary effort to protect civilians and strike appropriate military targets, we will continue to strike ISIS wherever and whenever our partner’s lives are in danger in accordance with the Law of Armed Conflict.”

Human rights organizations such as Human Rights Watch in November called on ISIS to stop using civilians as human shields.

“Using civilians as human shields is a war crime. Forces fighting ISIS should take all feasible precautions to protect civilians during attacks,” HRW said.

“The use of human shields by ISIS is just their latest cruelty against beleaguered civilians,” said Lama Fakih, deputy Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. “But the horrors inflicted by ISIS do not give anti-ISIS forces a pass to attack ISIS forces without regard to the safety of the civilians in their midst.”

Since the start of the Mosul operation on Oct. 17, the US-led coalition has struck ISIS with more than 7,650 munitions in support of the Iraqi Security Forces.

Last Thursday, the Iraqi forces announced that several elements of the Iraqi Army, Federal Police and Counter Terrorism Service initiated a simultaneous advance along three axes in Mosul to defeat ISIS.

[al-Manar] Iraqi forces have retaken around two thirds of the eastern half of Mosul from the ISIL terrorist group since the start of an offensive in mid-October, a top commander said Sunday.

“From east Mosul… more than 60 percent” has been retaken from ISIL, Staff Lieutenant General Abdulwahab al-Saadi, a top commander in Iraq’s Counter-Terrorism Service (CTS), told AFP.

He was speaking from his headquarters northeast of Mosul, where ISIL proclaimed a “caliphate” in June 2014 after occupying the city.

Iraq’s elite CTS forces are the best-equipped, best-trained and most seasoned forces in the country but the going has been tough since Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi announced the beginning of an operation to retake Mosul on October 17 last year.

CTS and other forces more recently deployed inside the city have been moving house-to-house, dodging sniper fire, suicide car bombs and booby traps to retake one neighborhood after another.

[al-Manar] 20 ISIL terrorists were killed on Sunday on the right coast of the city of Mosul by an unmanned Iraqi warplane (CH4) used by Iraqi forces for the first time, a security source in Nineveh province reported.

The source said that this type of aircraft is bombing ISIL gatherings on the right coast of the city for the first time, adding that “the operation was proactive, accurate and was based on reliable intelligence which led to target their gathering which is important to the terrorist organization.”

Iraqi army and police forces have recaptured a strategic street and liberated three more districts in the eastern section of the city of Mosul since late Saturday and through Sunday as operations resume to clear the city from ISIL militants, an army officer said late Saturday.

Federal police forces said Sunday they became in control over the strategic No.60 Street southeast of Mosul.

“Army forces have managed to liberate the districts of al-Malayeen, al-Kindi and al-Arabi al-Thania after storming them on Friday,” Bas News quoted army major Ali Mohsen as saying. He added that the offensive on the three villages resulted in the killing of 40 IS militants, mostly foreigners.

AFP reported Sunday that Iraqi helicopter wheels overhead, firing a barrage of bullets towards terrorists below, adding that Mosul crackled with gunfire and explosions as the Rapid Response forces fight their way north alongside contingents from other units.

It added that the advance was quick but careful, with an Iraqi army Humvee mounted with an anti-tank missile launcher on hand to target car bombs and a bulldozer that erects dirt barricades to block their approach.

Humvees provide cover for those on foot, who move alongside, weapons at the ready.

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said yesterday the battle for Mosul was entering a “decisive” stage, and predicted in December that the operations could realize final victory within two months.

[AlAhram] An artillery strike by the U.S.-led coalition in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul struck a mortar position next to two empty school buildings that Islamic State group had been using to target Iraqi security forces, the U.S. military said on Sunday. No civilians were in the area and minimal damage was reported to the buildings, the Combined Joint Strike Force said in a statement. Schools, like hospitals and mosques, are protected under international law.

Golly.

"While the Coalition takes extraordinary effort to protect civilians and strike appropriate military targets, we will continue to strike ISIL wherever and whenever our partner's lives are in danger in accordance with the Law of Armed Conflict," it said, using an acronym for Islamic State group.

Diyala (IraqiNews.com) Head of the Security Committee in Abu Saida Council, in Diyala Province, Awad al-Rabiei, revealed on Sunday, that an army officer was killed and three soldiers were injured in the explosion of a booby-trapped Islamic State’s flag, northeast of Baqubah.

Rabiei said in a press statement, “A booby-trapped Islamic State’s flag, placed near al-Rashedeen school in Abu Karma village, exploded today, after an army patrol arrived in the area, killing an army officer and wounding three soldiers.”

“The orchards of Abu Karma and nearby villages became a hideout for extremist groups,” he added. “An extensive military operation is needed to eliminate terrorism in the area,” he explained.

Earlier today, the Islamic State raised its flag over a school in a village in Abu Saida, northeast of Baqubah in Diyala province.

Diyala (IraqiNews.com) Head of Mukdadiyah District Council, Adnan al-Tamimi, announced on Sunday, that the Islamic State launched an armed attack on checkpoints belonging to al-Hashd al-Ashaeri, northeast of Baqubah.

Tamimi, in a press statement, said, “The Islamic State launched a violent armed attack on checkpoints belonging to al-Hashd al-Ashaeri in the villages of Albu Mousa and al-Lahib, north of Muqdadiyah,” adding that, “The attack was launched from the nearby Hud al-Zour area.”

“The clashes are ongoing, however, the fighters of al-Hashd al-Ashaeri are steadfast in their position,” Tamimi further added.

“Hud al-Zour area lacks any security presence, which makes it easy target for the Islamic State,” Tamimi explained.

Anbar (IraqiNews.com) A drone belonging to Islamic State militants was brought down in Anbar’s town of Ramadi while nine people suspected of affiliation with the group were detained on Sunday, security commanders in the province said.

Ismail al-Mahalawi, commander of the Interior Ministry’s Anbar Operations, said a “preemptive security operation in Soufiya, Ramadi, resulted in the arrest of nine suspects and the bringing down of an IS-flown drone at the center of the town.

Islamic State militants are still holding some hideouts in western Anbar, launching occasional attacks on security from there.

However, Qassem al-Mohammadi, who leads the army’s al-Jazeera Operations division in the province, said Sunday the volume of attacks by the group has receded recently due to regular airstrikes by Iraqi and US-led fighter jets. He said that preparations continue by security forces to storm IS-held regions at the west of the province.

Iraqi government forces, backed by international air forces, popular militias and Kurdish fighters, have been carrying out a major campaign since October 2016 to clear Iraq’s city of Mosul from IS extremists.

Mohammadi said IS defeats in Mosul leave a positive effect on the situation in Anbar by weakening the intensity of the group’s attacks.

Anbar (IraqiNews.com) Commander of Anbar Operations, Major General Ismail al-Mahalawi announced on Sunday, that security forces discovered 50 missiles of Jahannam (Hell) cannon belonging to the Islamic State in Albu Diab area, in northern Ramadi.

Mahalawi said in a press statement, “Securing forces are searching and securing the areas of Ramadi, including Albu Diab, that were controlled by the Islamic State for more than three years.”

“During search operations, security forces discovered 50 Jahannam missiles that were used by the terrorist group to attack innocent civilians,” Mahalawi added.

Mahalawi also pointed out that Anbar Operations Command continue combing the liberated areas, backed by police forces and army’s engineering teams, in order to dismantle improvised explosive devices and remnants left by the Islamic State.

[MIDDLEEASTMONITOR] ISIS attacked an Iraqi police checkpoint near the southern city of Najaf on Sunday, killing seven coppers as government forces in the north made more gains against the bully boyz in djinn-infested Mosul... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn..., their last major stronghold in the country.

The Najaf attack, which involved gunnies and a suicide boom-mobile, followed blasts a day earlier in Baghdad that left 29 people dead, a reminder of Islamic State...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems....’s continued ability to operate away from territory under its control.

The recapture of Mosul would probably spell the end for the group’s self-styled caliphate in it areas seized in 2014, but the bully boyz would still be capable of fighting a guerrilla-style insurgency in Iraq, and plotting or inspiring attacks on the West.

Since the US-backed offensive began on October 17, elite forces have retaken a quarter of Mosul in the biggest ground operation in Iraq since the 2003 US-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein. Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi has said the group would be driven out of the country by April.

The second phase of the campaign launched on Thursday following weeks of deadlock has pushed ISIS out of several more areas despite fierce resistance.

The fourth day of the renewed push saw incremental advances on the eastern and southeastern fronts.

A military statement said the counter-terrorism forces had retaken part of Karama district.

A federal police officer said Iraqi forces had taken near total control of Intisar and Siha neighbourhoods, and were clearing Salam. "For the fourth day in a row, federal police units supported by the army are on the offensive," he told Rooters at a forward base in Intisar.

The attack near Najaf, 500 km (310 mile) south of Mosul, happened when two vehicles travelling through the desert were stopped at a police checkpoint around al-Qadisiya town, local police sources said.

The driver detonated an explosive load and the second vehicle fled. Police pursued it and killed the two bully boyz inside.

In a statement distributed online by supporters, ISISgrabbed credit for the attack, which also maimed 17 people including civilians. It said four gunnies had opened fire before detonating explosive vests and then a fifth assailant launched a suicide boom-mobile.

[Ynet] Assad Daka is suspected of providing MK Ghattas with the cellphones he allegedly tried to smuggle into prison; Daka's lawyer: 'He didn't know he was delivering phones. He didn't know what he received in the packages.'

Assad Daka, the brother of terrorist Walid Daka, was indicted on Sunday on the suspicion he provided MK Basel Ghattas (Joint List) with the cellphones the MK allegedly tried to smuggle to Lions of Islam in prison.

According to the indictment, the 51-years-old Assad Daka met with Ghattas at a Dor Alon gas station along the northbound side of Highway 6 in the early morning hours of December 18, where he handed him four packages containing 12 cellphones, 16 SIM cards, two charges and an earpiece.
Continued on Page 49

[MIDDLEEASTMONITOR] A Paleostinian woman was injured after being shot by Israeli soldiers at the Qalandiya checkpoint between Ramallah and Jerusalem in the central occupied West Bank.

Witnesses told Ma’an that Israeli soldiers shot up the woman who was walking towards the vehicle lane of the checkpoint.

In a statement, Israeli police spokeswoman Luba al-Samri said that "an Arab ID-holder suspect" approached Israeli security forces via the vehicles’ lane. "Israeli security forces noticed her approaching with a knife in her hand. They told her to stop, but she ignored and kept walking towards them, and they shot at her."

Lawyer Muhammad Mahmoud of prisoners’ rights group Addameer told Ma’an that the woman was identified as Jihan Muhammad Hashimeh, 35, from the neighbourhood of al-Issawiya in occupied East Jerusalem.

Locals said that Hashimeh was ill, and that she was on her way to Jerusalem for medical treatment when she entered the vehicle lane by mistake.

According to witnesses, the victim remained on the ground bleeding and screaming in pain while Israeli soldiers prevented ambulance crews from approaching her for almost an hour. She was then detained and transferred to a hospital for treatment.

[ARA News] Raqqa – The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) on Sunday reported the liberation of 110 villages in the western countryside of Raqqa Governorate since the launch of the second phase of the battle for Raqqa last month.

“Our forces have so far liberated 110 villages in western Raqqa since the launch of the second phase of Euphrates Wrath Operation on December 10,” the SDF leadership said in a statement.

The US-backed forces also reported the death of 277 ISIS jihadists in three weeks of military operations.

“We have also taken 13 ISIS terrorists as captives during the recent clashes,” an SDF officer told ARA News, adding that one ISIS fighter surrendered to the SDF along with his family after deserting the Islamic State in Raqqa.

The Syrian Democratic Forces, however, have not revealed yet the number of casualties in their ranks in the anti-ISIS Raqqa campaign.

Supported by an air cover from the US-led coalition, the SDF has so far captured more than 1500 km² in western Raqqa within the second phase of the Euphrates Wrath Operation, that started on December 10. During the first phase of Euphrates Wrath, that was launched on November 6, the SDF captured roughly 560 km² of land in northern Raqqa.

The SDF launched the second phase of the Euphrates Wrath Operation with the objective of securing Raqqa’s western countryside and Tabqa Dam, which bridges the Euphrates River. The long-term objective of Euphrates Wrath is the elimination of the Islamic State in its de facto capital, Raqqa city.

[ARA News] Aleppo – At least 277 civilians were killed by Turkish fire since Turkey’s intervention in Syrian last August, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) on Sunday.

“Turkish bombardment continued targeting ISIS-controlled areas of Aleppo’s north-astern countryside, leading to more human losses among civilians who were targeted in their homes or other locations,” SOHR said.

The organization documented the death of 277 civilians since the Turkish intervention in Syria on the 24th of August 2016 until today the first of January 2017, including 65 children and 38 women, in addition to hundreds of civilian injuries by the Turkish airstrikes and bombardment in the northeastern countryside of Aleppo.

On December 23, Sharvan Darwish, a spokesperson for the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), said at least 120 civilians were killed in ongoing Turkish airstrikes on al-Bab city. “Mostly children and women. This is an attempt by Turkey to cover up its defeats there,” Darwish said.

So far, the Turkey-based Syrian National Coalition for the opposition forces (SNC) has not condemned the death of civilians by Turkish bombardment, while the same Syrian opposition group in July asked the US-led coalition to end air support to the Syrian Democratic Forces in Manbij due to civilian deaths.

The Turks launched the Euphrates Shield Operation on the 24th of August with the goal to stop the Kurds from connecting their canton administrations into one federal region in northern Syria.

While the Turkish-backed rebels had more ease in taking the area near the Turkish border between al-Rai and Jarabulus, they are struggling to advance in the town of al-Bab which led to dozens of Turkish soldiers being killed and tanks taken by ISIS.

Turkey also moved hundreds of rebels from Aleppo City to northern Aleppo, which weakened the Syrian opposition in the city–that recently fell completely to regime forces.

Abu Abd Ashidaa, the head of Aleppo rebels, partially blamed Turkey for the fall of Aleppo in a speech released on December 29.

“In addition to that many factions left Aleppo by the orders of their backers, especially in the northern and eastern parts of Aleppo, as they left to fight in the rural North,” he said about Turkish-backed groups.

“So these territories were the first ones to fall in Aleppo. And the Euphrates Shield Operation in the rural North did nothing to ease the burden on Aleppo City. These countries advised many of the factions in Aleppo to leave with all kinds of promises, and this destroyed the soul of resistance among the rebel factions, so many of them left their lines of defense against the regime,” Ashidaa stated.

[ARA] A US-led coalition Arclight airstrike on Sunday killed several members of the al-Qaeda splinter group of Jabhat Fateh al-Sham...formerly al-Nusra, the current false nose and mustache of al-Qaeda in the Levant... in Syria’s northwestern Idlib Governorate, including a senior jihadist.

Abu Omar al-Turkistani, a military commander in Jabhat Fateh al-Sham, was reported dead along with three other myrmidons.

"The US-led coalition hit al-Turkistani’s convoy in the vicinity of Sarmada town in Idlib Governorate, near the Turkish border. The jihadist leader and three of his guards were killed in the air raid," local media activist Saeed al-Hamwi told ARA News.

Also, a member of the Jabhat Fateh al-Sham, who spoke to ARA News on condition of anonymity, confirmed the death of Abu Omar al-Turkistani in the Arclight airstrike on Sunday evening.

Jahbat Fateh al-Sham was previously known as Jabhat al-Nusra...formally Jabhat an-Nusrah li-Ahli al-Sham (Support Front for the People of the Levant), also known as al-Qaeda in the Levant. They aim to establish a pan-Arab caliphate. Not the same one as the Islamic State, though .. ... or al-Nusra Front. In July 2016, the myrmidon group announced that it had split from al-Qaeda and was rebranding. However,you can observe a lot just by watching... the US State Department said that group’s holy warriors remained a fair target for US warplanes in Syria despite Nusra’s decision to cut ties with al-Qaeda and change its name to Jabhat Fatah al-Sham.

On November 12, he United States amended the designation of Jabhat al-Nusra as a Foreign Terrorist Organization, listing Jabhat Fateh al-Sham (JFS) as a terrorist alias. Security analysts told ARA News that the United States has expanded its anti-JFS campaign ever since.

[MIDDLEEASTMONITOR] Lebanese police have bumped off a suspected Hezbollah member after he attempted to rob a bank in the capital Beirut, local media sources and activists have said on social media.

The perpetrator, identified as Abbas Ali Ziaytar, attempted to rob a branch of the Itimad bank in Beirut yesterday before he and an accomplice were intercepted by police.

MEMO has seen footage showing Ziaytar laying on the ground with a single gunshot wound just beneath his neck. He was still breathing and in subsequent footage can be seen being rushed for treatment by Lebanese security forces.

Ziaytar, 22 years old from Baalbek, later succumbed to his wounds.

According to the Lebanese outlet Janoubia, which focuses on news from the Lebanese south where the Shia Hezbollah bully boy group is strongest, Ziaytar had travelled to Syria many times in order to fight on the side of Syrian dictator Bashir al-Assad.

Several Lebanese outlets covered the story of the Hezbollah bank robber being killed, but some later took it down after Ziaytar’s Hezbollah links were confirmed by multiple sources. Lebanese MTV was one of those to remove the story.

Janoubia also said that Hezbollah released a statement saying that it had dismissed Ziaytar from the Shia jihadist group a long time ago due to "behavioural reasons".

However,by candlelight every wench is handsome... considering Ziaytar’s young age and the fact that the Syrian civil war has been ongoing since 2011, there is speculation that Ziaytar was either an active member of Hezbollah at the time of his killing, or else he had only recently been let go by the Iranian proxy.

[YAHOO] Islamic State...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... said it carried out a kaboom on the Syrian coastal city of Tartous that Syrian state media said killed two security officers.

Islamic State said in an online statement claiming the attack that two of its members detonated boom-mobiles. It did not say whether they were suicide kaboomers or provide any further details.

Syrian state media said the attack, first reported early on Sunday, was carried out by two jacket wallahs wearing explosives.

Anbar (IraqiNews.com) Eight thousand civilians are being confined by Islamic State militants inside Anbar’s western town of Annah, its mayor said Sunday.

Saad Awwad said those are mostly children and women who are denied exit from their regions. “Intelligence information received by security forces reveal that the number of Daesh (IS) militants vin Annah, west of Anbar, does not exceed 250, especially as most of its leaderships and emirs had fled to Syria over the past months,” he said in statements.

“Joint forces are preparing to clear the western regions, including Annah, Rawa and Qaem, as well as the borderline between Iraq and Syria, within the next few days so as to eliminate Daesh from the whole of Anbar and free civilians stranded at those regions,” said Awwad, who added that the stranded families experience difficult conditions due to food, medicine and petroleum shortages.

Rights organizations and news reports have accused IS militants of deliberately shooting at, or executing, civilians who attempt to flee regions held by the extremist group.

Iraqi and US-led fighter jets have regularly bombed IS locations west of Anbar since major operations launched by the government and the US international coalition against the group last year.

A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.

Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.

Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.